Ludvina's Legacy is complete

About 2 1/2 years ago I posted about starting to put together a bunch of 1.5" sqaures that I had. I have been working on that project pretty steadily and last night I finished the hand-sewing on the binding.


This quilt was all hand pieced (yes, all 2064 little 1.5" squares and 160 1.5" X 4.5" sashing strips) and hand quilted.


At various times in the process I thought I would never finish either the piecing or the quilting but I did it! The only things that were done on the machine were piecing the back and putting the binding on. I love the feel of it - since it was hand quilted without a hoop or frame it is so soft - as if it had been washed several times.

I am glad it is finished in time for this year's quilt show at our church which will be the Saturday before Mother's Day (May 8) and will raise funds for our Relay for Life team.

I think my next hand-sewing project to focus on will be on this quilt, mainly because I think it is one I can actually get finished soon. But today, I will work on getting the Lady of the Lake sandwiched and at least ready for quilting.

The Lady is done

I finished my Lady of the Lake top today! I am really happy with the results. It looks Christmas-y but not blatantly so. Since the border fabric isn't a Christmas fabric the quilt can be used year-round.


I am thinking I am going to get the back put together and maybe get this one quilted this week. I also hope to get Ludvina's Legacy finished this week.

Our daughter and her boyfriend will be here on Friday for a few days and then the boyfriend goes back across the state and the daughter stays for the rest of the week. Should be fun. My niece will also be here for Easter turkey dinner and I am sure there will be some Wii happening also.

Didn't get to the post office

but, I did get some more blocks done. They are all for the Quilt Block Exchange over on Flickr. By the way, if any of you are interested sign-ups for April are open now.

First I did two for Mary. She asked for blocks to be made into preemie quilts for her local hospital. These are both 15.5" blocks. The first I am very pleased with and I am thinking I will make a baby quilt with this as the inspiration. I have a lot of the border fabric so I think I will make 12 boat blocks of various designs and frame them with the print and then put them together somehow. That is as far as I have gotten with the idea but it won't happen for quite a while what with all the other projects in the works.

This second one used up most of two Noah's Ark prints that I used for a baby quilt a long time ago.

These next four blocks are for Wendy and Raesha. They made it easy for me since they both wanted 12.5" red, white and blue blocks and one asked specifically for stars. I really like these first two and someday I am going to make a quilt using blocks like these. Not sure if all the blocks will have the same background or if they will be a variety of colors. Again, that will be down the road a ways!





The weather is lovely again today so I need to head out and do some work out there but I hope to have enough energy when I am done out there to get to work on the Lady of the Lake top now that I have some border fabric. I also need to get all of the blocks I have finished into packages and have them ready to go to the post office on Monday!

Progress in the sewing room

I have managed to get some sewing done this morning. I got my blocks done for Rene:
and Mary

for Quilt Block Round Robin 2010. I hope to get to the post office either today or tomorrow to get them in the mail along with the block I finished yesterday for the WIMM Round Robin 2010 for my niece, Brita, and the tote that I showed you all the other day - yep, it is sold and I have an order for one more with two other possible orders!

Now on to the March Quilt Block Exchange.

Catching up

Last week was a wash sewing wise but I made up for it by spending the week playing with my grandkids! I have had my grandson here with me several times by himself but this was his little sister's first time without a parent. She is 20 months old and was amazing! They are both very full of energy and very sweet. I knew I wouldn't get anything done all week and I was right! Well, mostly right, I did get some yard work done since they love to be outside.

I got back into the sewing room a little yesterday and today and hope to do a lot more in the next couple of days. I got one block done for one of my round robins and hope to get it in the mail this week. I am also planning out the blocks for a couple from the other round robin and need to get 6 blocks done for this month's quilt block exchange. I needed some white kona for a couple of the blocks so I stopped at a couple of fabric stores this morning on the way home from the airport. The first didn't have the white kona but I did find a print that I think will be great for the borders of the Lady of the Lake quilt. Once I get all the blocks done for the various swaps/round robins I plan to get that top finished.

I have been very busy around here and I have taken advantage of the beautiful weather we have been having here in Western Washington (today it is close to 70!) and I cleaned up a couple of flower beds and finally finished pruning the apple trees! I still am not sure if I am pruning them right but at least it is keeping them under control a bit!

Today's project

So here are some pictures of the tote I made today. It is from the same pattern I used for the bag I made on the quilt retreat (I just haven't gotten around to taking pictures of that one)! This side has a zipper pocket and you can see the pockets on the ends that will hold water bottles quite nicely.This side has a wide pocket along the side with a magnetic clasp.Here is a shot of the inside. The divider in the middle is a zipper pocket. On one side is a pleated pocket and on the other side is a patch pocket with a key fob.The whole thing zips shut and it will hold a laptop which is why I made the first one for myself. This one is hopefully going to be for one of two people who are interested in buying a bag. Both wanted a blue one so if they both want one I will buy more of the fabric and make another.

Lookie! Lookie!

I got the second cushion done and brought them to my friend's house. She is coming home from Hawaii tonight so I am surprising her - the kids aren't supposed to tell her. I have more of this fabric and two others to make some pillows so that will be happening soon so that is out of my sewing room but maybe not this week.

Blocks together

Here it is!
Yesterday I made up the last four blocks and this morning laid it out and put the blocks into rows. I have also basted the rows together so it will be easier to take to the store to look for border fabric! I am really excited about this one!

I do plan to get the second cushion done today. I think they will need a bit of batting around the foam to make a nicer cushion but that will be my friend's decision. It will be nice to have those out of my house! I still have some pillows to make for her but that will wait a bit. My son and his girlfriend will be coming on Saturday for spring break and my daughter and SIL are allowing me to have my two grandkids for the week also. It will be very crazy at my house and I am pretty sure that no sewing will get done but so worth it!

I need to get outside and work on the pruning but would you believe it, winter has finally arrived here in the Pacific Northwest! It snowed yesterday and this morning it is quite frosty with the possibility of more snow this afternoon. The good news is that it shouldn't stick or if it does it won't last very long.

One down, one to go

and then there are some pillows. Yes, I got one cushion done this morning! It turned out really nicely. So nicely, in fact, that I am actually looking forward to doing new cushions for our Argosy trailer sometime. I even used cording! Pretty impressive, I know.

The sun was out today along with our mountain and things were just gorgeous so I went outside and got one full tree pruned. That leaves one more small tree and the ladder work on the two biggest ones. I think I will make it again this year! But that will probably wait till later next week at least because the weather is supposed to turn soggy for a few days at least. We will wait and see I guess.

After a little workout on the Wii and a shower I decided to look at the layout for the Lady of the Lake blocks. This is what I think it is going to be...
though I will have to make up two more blocks and luckily, I have enough pieces for those two and two more so I will just finish them all up and use the last two as part of the label on the back. So what do you think? What do you think I should use around the outside? A single color? Green? Red? A print with both green and red and neutral (if I can find one)? I I will probably put the top partially together and then take it to the store to make my decision.

56 Blocks

Yep, I decided this morning was going to be the last push on the Lady of the Lake blocks and it worked. I got the last 20 put together thanks to a quiet phone! Now I need to go out and do some exercising (either Wii Fit or pruning trees) and then I will shower and head to the dentist to have a couple of fillings replaced - it seems that after about 35 years those old fillings just start needing to be replaced. Who knew?

Yesterday afternoon I got a good bit of pruning done and the sun is shining so I think I will head outside with my pruning shears and a ladder.

Outside and In

This morning I have gotten some work outside and some inside. Outside I just couldn't resist that newly tilled dirt from yesterday so I dug up some lilacs and a hardy fucshia and put them in the ground.
Here is the before...

And here is the after...
As I was putting away my gloves i saw a little trailing rose bush I bought last year that is still alive - miracle of miracles - so I transplanted it into the old wringer washer in the yard. I hope it does well there.


Finally, here is a picture of my Lady of the Lake blocks so far. I got another 9 done this morning so I have 36 finished!
Just 20 more to go and I will be able to get the top put together. I am hoping for this weekend but first those cushions...

Delays

I really did plan to work on the cushions today but first I noticed that it was pretty nice outside and those apple trees aren't pruning themselves so I went out for 'an hour' to work on those. Shortly after I got out there my neighbor drove over on his tractor (man, I want me a tractor!) and tilled up along the fence where I cut the sod last June! It looks just beautiful and was so tempting but I went back to the tree. I am not sure how long I pruned but I am nearly done with the biggest tree so it will see easy after this!

So I came in and had a bite to eat and rested and then finally got myself motivated to head to the sewing room. I got started cutting the fabric and was going to start sewing when I realized I hadn't thought about thread so I need to run into town to get some later on.

So, I pulled out my Lady of the Lake blocks and got 9 more made so I now have 27 of the 56 blocks done! I would love to get this project on the finished pile so I will work on the blocks so that happens!

A little project before the cushions

I am going to get started on the window seat cushions today - a project I have put off long enough. It is one of those that I think is going to be a pain so I put it off and put it off until I just have to do it. Hopefully, like most of those projects it will turn out much easier than anticipated!

I had a little extra time yesterday afternoon so I pulled out a quickie project from the 'to be finished pile' (hereafter to be known as TBFP). It was one of those panels you can get and it had an child's artist smock, a tote and a cat pincushion. Here are the smock and tote......I decided the cat pincushion just wasn't worth the work! I added bias tape to the neck and armholes because just turning under 1/4" and another 1/4" was not working out so well on the curves! The smock will be bib/apron for the grandkids and the tote will go in the toy room - little Clara does like her a good tote!

Well, off to the cushions!

February Tally

I have trouble keeping track of how many projects I get finished in a year so I am going to try to put up a tally at the end of each month to help me out.

February Finishes
Baby Quilts - 2 (Rubber Ducky and Dog House)
LWR - 4 backs and 1 top
Doll/Wall Quilts - 2 (Purple/Green and Christmas Pinwheels)
Quilt Block Exchange Blocks - 4
Quilt Block Round Robin Blocks - 4
Tops - 1 (Crazy Quilt)
Quilts - 1 (Lone Star Retirement Quilt)
Totes - 1

Not bad for one month since I really don't feel like I did that much.

Here is one of my first finishes for March.
I made this (minus the little triangles around the outside) for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap in February 2008 but I wasn't satisfied with it so it got put on the shelf and I made a different and better snowflake quilt for that swap. I had the squares cut to make the HST's for the border and never finished this. It took just a couple hours to get it put together and quilted - it would have been a few minutes less but I kept losing HSTs!

I also finished the two Double 4-Patch quilt tops yesterday but I don't have pictures yet so you will have to wait!

Today I got started on some blocks my daughter started a couple of years ago and I have decided to finish up with her plan and make it big enough for her daughter's big girl quilt for her 2nd birthday in July. I should have that top done within the week. Tomorrow I need to get started on those cushions for my friend's window seat!